Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-05-30
INTERNATIONAL DRILL.
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE TO A MILITARY
CONVERSATION.
DR.. falmage Disoourses 70 the Soldier Boys at th,
National Drill at WashiDgtou-COmpimsnts
10 The Citizen Soldisry of the Country
Spiritual Truths.
Special Tsleorum 10 he Renircr.

ID. Soldiers from thirty-one States anj
Territories were present and nineteen Gov
ernOrs and their stats. Washington is
full of strangers attendant upon the M
tiOnal drill, having for its object improve
ment in military science, which began May
% and will close tomorrow. The music
before and after the sermon this afternoon,
was conducted by military bands. DR.
Talmago texts were taken from Chron,
icles xii: 30: Fifty thousand which could
keep rank and Judges Xxx: 10: Every
one could sling stones at hair-breadtt
and not miss" The preacher said:
Companies of infantry, cavalry, artillery
and zouaves, please notice the first Scrip
ture passage applauds the soldiers of Zeb
ulun
BECAUSE THEY WERE DISCIPLINED
troops. They may have been inefficient al
the start and laughed at by old soldiers be
cause they seemed 80 clumsy in the line
but it was drill, drill, drill until they
could keep step as one man. Fifty
thousand which could keep rank" The
second Scripture passage applauds a regi
ment of singers in the tribe of Benjamin
because they are deXtrOus marksmen
When they first enlisted they may have
been all awkward squad and all their fin
gers were thumbs, but they practiced un
til when they aimed mt a mark they alway,
hit it. Every one could sling stones al
a hair-breadth and not miss" Both text,
combining 10 show us that if we must fight
we should do it well.
There is something absorbing in the
military science of the Bible. In Older
times all the men between twenty and
fifty years of aye were enrolled in the army
and a levy was made for special service
There were only three or four classes eX'
empt; those who had built house and had
not occupied it; those who had planted q
garden and had not reaped the fruit of it
those who were engaged to he married and
yet had not led the bride TO the altar
those who were yet in the first year OF
welded lite; those who were SO nervous
that they could not look upon an enemy
but they tled and could not look upon
blood but they tainted.
The army was
IN THREE DIVISIONS
the centre and right and left wings. The
weapons of defense were helmet, shield,
breastplate, hncklCr. The weapons of Of
fcnse were sword, spear iavelin, arrow,
catapult-whlch was merely L bow swung
by machinery, shooting arrows ut great
distances, great arrows, one arrow as large
as several men could lift, and ballists,
which was a sling swung by machinery,
hnrling great rocks and large pieces of lead
to vast distances. The shields were made
of woven willow work with three thick
ncSseS of hide aud loop through which
the arm of the warrior might be thrust
aud WIN these soldiers were marching IA
attack an enemy on the level, all these
shields touched each other; making wall
moving but impenetrahle; and then when
they attacked fortress or tried 10 capture
q battlcment this shield was lifted over
the head so as TO resist the falling missiles.
The hre.lstplate was made of two pieces OI
leather, brass covered, one piece falling
over the breast, the other falling over the
hack. At the side of the warrior the two
pieces fastened with buttons or clasps.
The bows we so stout and stiil' and
strong that warriors often challenged each
other to bend one. The strings Of the bow
were made from the sinews of oxen. A
case like an inverted pyramid was fastened
to the back, that Ease containing the ar
L. H., h., -. IL 4,
use an arrow he wOulSSput his arm over
his shoulder and pull forth the arrow fol
the fight. The ankle of the foot had an
iron boot When a wall was to be assault
cd hattering ram was brought up. A
battering ram was q great beam swung on
chains in equilibrium. The hattcring ram
would be brought close up 10 the wall and
then great number of men would take
hold of this beam, push it back as far as
they could and then let 20, and the beam
became u great swinging pendulum of de-
struCtiOn.
Twenty OF forty men would stand in
A MOVABLE TOWER
OH the back of an elephant, the elephant
made drunk with wine, and then headed
toward the enemy, and what with the
heavy feet and the swinging probOscis aud
the poisoned arrows shot from the movable
tower, the destruction was APPALLING. War
chariOts were in vogue and they were on
two wheels so they could easily turn.
A sword was fastened to the pole between
the horses sO when they went ahead the
sword thrust and when they turped around
il wonld NOW down. The armies carried
flags beautifully embroidered. Tribe
of Judah carried q flag embroidered with a
lion tribe of Reuben, embroidered with n
man /; tribe of llan, embroidered with
Chernbim. The noise of the host rs they
moved on was overwhelming What with
the clatter of shields aud the rumbling Of
wheels and the shouts OF the captains, and
the yOCiieratiOn of the entire host, the
prophet says it was like the roaring of the
sea, Because the arts Of war have been
advancing all these years yOu are not to
conclude that these armies of Olden times
were an uncomfortable mob. ! could
quote you four or tlvepasSages Of Scripture
showing you that they were thoroughly
drilled; they marched step to step, shoul-
der to shoulder, or, as my texts express it,
they were Fifty thousand which could
keep rank" and Every one could sling
stones at hair-hreadth and not miss
Nothing could he more important than
this great National Encampmeut.
UNDRIILED TROOPS CAN NEVER STAND
before those which are drilled. At time
when other nations are giving such care to
military tactics, il behOOycs this nation TO
lack nothing in skill. We shall never
have another war between North and
South. The old decAyed bone OF cOnten-
ton, American slavery, has been cast out,
although here and there depraved polite
ian takes it up to see il he can gnaw some
thing off Of it. We are floating of further
and further from the possibility Of section
al strife, but about foreign invasion
am not so sure. There is abso-
lutely no room on this COn-
tinent for any other nation.
have been across the country again and
again and know that We have not q half
inch of ground for the equity foot Of foreign
despotism to stand on. do not know but
that a half dozen nations enyious Of our
prosperity may want to give US wrestle.
During our civil war there were two or
three nations that could hardly keep their
hands of Of Us. 1t IS very easy TO pick
national quarrels, and if our nation escapes